A Brazilian organization claims the quick release of Apple’s iPad with Retina constitutes planned obsolescence with regards to its predecessor, the New iPad

Digital Black Cat‘s insight:

It’s about time someone sued Apple for a change. However, anybody that bought an iPad, or any Apple product ever, and didn’t expect an exact copy with a sligtly better spec sheet a year later is simply not living in reality.

The Chromebook Pixel is a laptop that brings together the best in hardware, software, and design to inspire future innovation.

Digital Black Cat‘s insight:

I love google, I love chrome OS, I love my $250 Samsung chromebook. However, there is NO way I would pay $1,300 for this. That is just crazy!!!!! I mean I get that the specs are pretty good, and it has a touchscreen, and really nice display, and yes even 1 TB of online drive space. All wonderful. However, pay $1,300 for a laptop that you can’t play planetside 2 on or stream netflix???? I think not.

A 3-D printed prosthetic hand has changed the life of a 5-year-old South African boy who was born without fingers on his right hand, and may be a model for people seeking a low-cost…

James Timberlake‘s insight:

While I don’t believe we are going to see Robocop by the end of the decade I do think it is realistic to expect to see a brave new world of augmented humans by middle of this century. With the rise of functionality coupled with the drop in cost of production producing augmented limbs will become easier and easier. Add to that the ability for intelligent people across the world to collaborate in their spare time to create better and better designs and we will see a growing number of wonderful stories just like this one. Many people I know fear the merging of man and machine, thinking it will rub us of our humanity, however I believe it will ensure that our humanity continues to flourish. The two men in this article didn’t do this for money, it wasn’t their job, nor was it some theoretical college project. They did it because they had a talent and could solve a real problem for a real person. This technology helped them expand their nature humanity into practical philanthropy. The boy now has fingers that he can use to interact with the world. It doesn’t detach him from life or his human emotions, quite the opposite, this hand helps him fully experience it. I’m encouraged and excited every time a new story like this comes out.

With laptops and cloud devices becoming more and more common in classrooms today many are asking if the textbook is on its way out. While the idea of digital textbooks has been around for over a decade in one from or … Continue reading →